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Critique groups. One hears horror stories about them. Not so in my local RWA Chapter. We are the best local chapter, so it stands to reason that we would have the best critique groups, right?

For a very long time, there were only two organized critique groups in the chapter. After a couple of years, I was invited to join one when someone else dropped out. One of the best writing-related things that ever happened to me. We are a wonderful fit, all writing in different genres, and all very serious about our writing.

An influx of serious-about-writing members created several new critique groups. We long-time members love hearing how these newer members are forming groups the way we did. So now, in a chapter of about 40 members (give or take), we have 5, maybe 6 critique groups: The Packeteers, The Virgins and Prose, the Herkimer Diamonds, the Laptop Dancers, the Creek Critique--and perhaps one other group.

But a few meetings ago, something unusual happened. A member of one of the newer groups said to me, "We didn't know critique groups were supposed to do that." I've forgotten specifically what "that" was, but she mentioned it again at our chapter meeting yesterday: "We thought critique groups were just about reading each other's work and giving feed back."

Well, they are.

When we went around the room to share our accomplishments for the month, she heard that one of the crit groups had gone camping together. In the past, some of us have mentioned retreats, goal-setting sessions . . . all sorts of things.

There is no secret formula for a successful critique group. There is no list of rules. In fact, there is only one rule.

A critique group is about meeting the writing needs of its members.

No more, no less, and it's up to the members to decide what those needs are and how to address them.

My particular group is very much into goal setting and the writing itself. What do we do on retreat? Well, we write. That surprises some people. But that's what we do. We will rent a hotel suite for a long weekend, load up on food & beverages, decide on a couple of movies for movie nights, but the focus is on WRITING. We sit around with our laptops and/or AlphaSmarts, our mp3 or portable CD players and headphones . . . and write. Last retreat, I wrote over 20 pages in one day and finished the first draft of my then-WIP. Over MLK weekend in January, at least three of us had at least one 20-plus page day (I had two!).

It's about the writing. Sometimes more, but never, ever less.